1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable communication terminal, and particularly to a portable communication terminal having a plurality of video signal sources.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, portable communication terminals having image-taking means such as a camera-equipped cellular phone have been widely used. Further, such a portable communication terminal has been disclosed that has a plurality of image-taking means, and can be operated by a user to select the image-taking means. Some of these portable communication terminals require complicated operations for such display selection.
For overcoming the above problems, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-169166, or the like has disclosed a portable communication terminal, which employs a touch panel for simplifying a required operation. This portable communication terminal includes a communication unit performing voice communication via a communication line, first and second image-taking lenses, a monitor unit with a touch panel, and a videophone unit.
According to the portable communication terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-169166, since the plurality of image-taking lenses can take pictures of subjects, a user can take pictures of the user himself/herself and another subject without changing the position of the portable communication terminal in his/her hand. Also, the user can select specific functions while referring to a menu displayed on the monitor unit with the touch panel. Further, the user can easily send pictures of a surrounding scene and another subject to the party on the other end of the communication line. Thereby, the portable communication terminal can provide an improved convenience to users.
However, according to the portable communication terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-169166, the user must operate the monitor unit with the touch panel to display a predetermined menu for selecting the specific function. During this operation by the user, therefore, the monitor unit cannot clearly display a picture of a subject taken by each lens or a picture received by the videophone unit in some cases. Consequently, the user may miss an opportunity to take a picture, or a speech communication with the party on the other end may be interrupted.